Ocean Home Magazine (Digital)

Creating an oceanfront home that is well suited to its environment, is beautiful and functional, and maximizes views is no easy task. An additional challenge is encompassing a sense of place into the design. In this issue, we explore coastal houses that hit all the marks. For a home just steps away from Florida’s Intracoastal Waterway, Ferguson & Shamamian Architects spent six months sketching to create a home that is not only aesthetically pleasing but also functions well in its humid coastal setting. The Anglo-Caribbean style house is welcoming and majestic and just what the homeowners were looking for in their coastal dream abode. The center massing of the home provides unobstructed views to the water with layers of lush plantings, palm trees, and old ficuses gracing the landscape. A timeless…

VICTORIA ABBOTT RICCARDI Victoria Abbott Riccardi is a journalist and book author, she has written food, wine, nutrition, and travel articles for a variety of consumer print and online media in the U.S., Canada, and Asia, including Bon Appetit, Food & Wine, and the New York Times. In 2003, she wrote the travel memoir Untangling My Chopsticks: A Culinary Sojourn in Kyoto (Broadway). MARY GRAUERHOLZ Mary is a freelance feature writer who focuses on architecture, style, sustainability, and health. In her previous career as a journalist, she won many awards for project management, editing, and writing. Since then, she has written for a variety of magazines, newspapers, and websites, including the Boston Globe. J. MICHAEL WELTON As an architecture, art, and design writer, Welton’s work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post,…

Greg Allen is an attorney in Montgomery, Alabama, who bootstrapped himself up from a law school student at night to a major player in the South’s legal profession. “I grew up in Georgia and moved to Alabama in 1976—in a 1960 pickup truck with a bed and a chair,” he says. “Now I’m a principal in a law firm with 100 lawyers in Atlanta, Montgomery, and Mobile.” Along the way, he picked up a serious hobby—in, around, and under the water. “I started scuba diving 35 years ago,” he says. “I’ve been all over the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico.” Spearfishing is his sport of choice, and he’s staked out Orange Beach, Alabama, as his headquarters. For years, he viewed the Gulf from his unit in the Porto del Sol condominiums. Then…

FOR MORE PRIME FINDS, VISIT oceanhomemag.com PHOTOGRAPHS BY, DUMAIS MADE (ALLEGRA ANDERSON), ANGEL TUCKER (DOCA),COURTESY OF ROCHE BOBOIS (ROCHE BOBOIS)…

“By nature, I’m a maximalist, so the greatest thing that I enjoy about this room is how calm and minimalist we kept it, while still allowing for the space to feel dynamic, layered, and interesting.”—Ben Leavitt, Creative Director, PlaidFox Studio, Vancouver, Canada For a recent project in Langley, a suburb of Vancouver, Canada, Ben Leavitt, creative director of PlaidFox Studio, looked to the natural surroundings, Japanese minimalism, and hints of Nordic and Scandinavian architecture. “The homeowner was really attracted to the clean lines and minimalism of Japanese, Scandinavian, and Nordic architecture and wanted a space that felt similarly calm and comfortable,” explains Leavitt of the 8,000-square-foot dwelling. “The house is situated on a forested lot, so it’s surrounded by a backdrop of trees. The entire first floor has large picture windows that…

“The custom 72-inch concrete island and solid-oak back bar mixed with darker tones create material play and a modern, yet refined look. The island bar has a weathered patina and a brushed look that gives a lime-washed feel to the piece. It pushes to redefine what a bar is with its unique shape [and modern look] that isn’t nested into a wall, but rather is freestanding. It’s located in the center of the great room in the ‘fun zone’ and next to a seating area for entertaining and hosting. It not only provides great ambiance for fun and relaxation, but it also organizes the open space.”—Esther Lundstrom, principal designer, Lundstrom Interiors, Santa Monica, California FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT lundstrominteriors.com…